Thermally reversible gelling or thickening of organic solvents by low molecular weight compounds are of particular interest for hardeners of spilled fluids and cooking oils, thickeners for paints, cosmetic materials and several other technical applications. The self assembly of these gelator/thickener molecules occurs by means of noncovalent interactions such as hydrophobic interaction, π—π interactions, electronic interactions, hydrogen bonding or combinations thereof. Although several gelator/thickener molecules have been identified during the last decade, there is still interest in stable gelator/thickeners that can be synthesized easily from cheap, renewable sources and gelate or thicken a wide variety of solvents.